Physical investigation of the impact of electrolessly deposited self-aligned caps on insulation of copper interconnects

With the miniaturization of ULSI circuits and the associated increase of current density up to several MA/cm², copper interconnects are facing electromigration issues at the top interface with the dielectric capping layer SiC(N). A promising solution is to insert selectively on top of copper lines a CoWP metallic self-aligned encapsulation layer, deposited using a wet electroless process. We study the impact of this process on electrical line insulation as a function of cap thickness at the 65 nm technology node and we investigate the physical origin of leakage currents. Below a critical thickness, only a slight leakage current increase of less than one decade is observed, remaining within the specification for self-aligned capping layer processes. Above this critical thickness, large leakage currents are generated due to the combined effect of lateral growth and the presence of parasitic redeposited nodules. We show that a simple phenomenological model allows to reproduce the experimental data, to assess quantitatively the contribution of parasitic defects, and to predict that the self-aligned barrier technology should be extendible up to the 32 nm node, provided that a thin cap layer of less than 8 nm is used.